Excessive excretion of the sebaceous glands in the scalp gives hair an oily appearance that generally is considered esthetically unappealing. Consequently, there have been many attempts to make such glands secrete normally by suitable means, to restore a healthy look to the hair. Cosmetic preparations containing sulfur, mercury, or tar have been used to fight seborrhea on the head. It has been found that these known anti-seborrheic additives frequently lead to side effects after prolonged use, without yielding really satisfactory results, as far as their effectiveness and application properties are concerned. German published patent application (DE-OS) No. 29 26 267 mentions 3,7,11-trimethyl-2,6,10-dodecatrien-1-ol derivatives as an additive to cosmetic preparations to normalize sebum secretion. However, it has been found that these compounds have a very low anti-seborrheic effect.